The regional council has now become a law unto itself and the public can fairly ask the council, what is the point of making submissions when a 90 per cent majority is ignored?
The council now needs to tell Hawke’s Bay ‘what is the threshold?’.
What will it take? One hundred per cent?
The council’s approach from start to finish over its rating switch has had a level of arrogance that I have not witnessed in my 25 years as a ratepayer.
It doesn’t bode well for the next round of public consultation - the regional council now wants another $10m in rate increases.
The council cannot claim that 500 public submissions is an insignificant number, especially when it only hand-picked 1000 ratepayers to write to about the switch directly
And then left it up to everyone else to find out through social media and a couple of newspaper ads.
In comparison, when the council consulted on selling Napier Port shares, it ran a massive public awareness campaign direct to all households and got nearly 3500 submissions (with 57 per cent support).
That was seven times more than its last long-term annual plan process, according to its own media release back in December 2018.
What if 90 per cent of the 500 had instead supported the council’s rate switch? I bet it would have come out swinging and justified itself in full force.
Hats off to the four councillors who listened to opposing submissions, backed ratepayers and voted with us.
Ironically, you all came from representing rural areas where many of your constituents might have initially seen a greater benefit from the switch to land values.
But as these four know, this switch could quickly compound rates across the region.
Remember, this is a council that barely gave ratepayers a chance to engage. It dropped its plan before Christmas and then missed critical Hawke’s Bay grower representation groups off its stakeholder notification list and held no public consultation meetings (except for the Wairoa councillors doing it themselves).
There are several ways you can look at it - this regional council has lost its way, become reckless with our money and lacks accountability.
Some ratepayers took this view in making their submissions.
Or, it proves the council has plotted and planned for 18 months and never wanted to consult in the first place.
Anna Lorck is a regional council ratepayer and a local business owner. She was the MP for Tukituki in the last term of Government.
Editor’s note: Hawke’s Bay Today asked Local Government NZ and HBRC if similar local government decisions had been made with 90 per cent opposition in the past. LGNZ was uncertain due to the lack of a centralised database for decisions. HBRC sent through this response:
“Councillors considered all feedback on the change and ultimately had to make the right decision for all 73,500 ratepayers.
“Submissions were important and valued. They raised ideas that were thoroughly discussed.
“Submissions, however, are not a referendum. Some proposals were supported by submitters.”
– Hinewai Ormsby, Hawke’s Bay Regional Council chair.
